On the 4th, I took the kids to a Christmas Open House at a nearby nursery. The day was complete with Santa, train rides, inflatable bouncer, and food including hot dogs, chips, water, roasted corn, hot chocolate & popcorn. The best thing was….it was ALL free! I know they do a pumpkin patch at Halloween time, but I have yet to take the kids. Now that I know how awesome it is, I will be sure to take them next year.
That same evening we spent some time with our good friends at beautiful Brackenridge Park, where my friend Maggie took some photos of us. She always does such a great job and I love how the pics turned out! Here are a few of my faves.
Austin had his Christmas piano recital on the 6th. His new teacher (Sis. Kjar) holds her recitals in the chapel at our church, so that was a first for him. He was able to play “Calypso Rhumba” on the baby grand!
Carson & Jackson had their first trip to the dentist on the 9th, which went marvelously well for both of them. I wasn’t surprised about Carson liking it, but Jackson surprised me by not crying at all when she was prying her fingers in there to look around. He was also recuperating from an ear infection. What a trooper!
Rhett and I have both been busy in the ward choir, preparing for our upcoming Christmas performances. We will be singing 2 numbers this Sunday (19th), along with both of us being asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting that day. Our topic is “Keeping Christ in Christmas”. It’s been nice to focus on that version of Christmas and not get caught up into the commercialism of the season. Then, on the 26th we will be doing a music and spoken word Sacrament Meeting, which involves me singing a solo of “Away in a Manger”. It’s been fun to have Rhett joining me in choir. It’s been since before Austin was born since he was able to be involved.
Well, there’s not much else to say…except that we will be adding to our family in 2011. Yay!!! I am expecting our 5th child in early July, however I already have my c-section date picked out, so if all goes well, on Friday, June 24th we will be delighted new parents once again. We are definitely crossing our fingers for a girl, so any extra fingers that can be crossed for us would be appreciated. We’ll keep you all updated on how things progress.
We hope you all have a marvelous holiday season filled with love, peace and joy. We love & miss all of you that are far away, but think of you often.
Happy Holidays!
Love – Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan, Carson, Jackson and Baby Z.
